Quotes About Writing

I like to write lyrics when I feel it, and because of that, I like to keep a log of lyrics all the time.

I prefer a great novel, but many novels come with a bunch of novel-y writerliness that feels sort of macho to me, so I do end up reading lots of shorter things.

Where I live, it's better to write in the morning because the night is really, really, really dark, and I do believe you'd go mad if you weren't asleep for most of it.

Writing is a form of licensed madness.

You're on your own with the book. And while you are writing fiction, you're spending all this time with people who don't actually exist, which is just madness.

Magazine articles are the new books.

I write for 'Self' magazine sometimes.

One of the things I liked about writing for a magazine was a kind of anonymity. When you do books, it's different than magazine pieces because you become a 'figure.'

Anyone who's in the magazine business thinks about advertisers when they write about something. And anyone who says they don't is a liar.

Sometimes I had three or four stories in a single magazine without the editor knowing they were all by me.

I worked at magazines for over 10 years before I even thought of writing a book.

When I got out of college, I had to make a living, and I started writing for magazines, and it felt like the perfect job.

Writing for TV made way more sense than writing for magazines. And by sense, I mean money.

There is no magic in all the world like that magic when you sell your first bit of writing.

Truman Capote was a magical, beautiful writer.

There's something magical about the idea that you can write something down and someone else can read it. I'm still mildly agog about that.

I love it, getting the chance to write and perform your own stuff, with a huge team of people creating that world for you, is truly magical.

I didn't start writing until late high school and then I was just diddling. Mainly I loved to read and my writing was an outgrowth of that.

I was pretty happy with how my career had gone, mainly because of the enormous freedom I've had to write what I've wanted to write. I had a very clear picture of who I was as a writer.

I can't remember a time when I didn't write or make up stories, because it seemed to come with reading.

It's not easy making a living as a writer, and for many years I worked at a Waterstones in Dublin. It was a good environment for an aspiring writer, with lots of events and authors appearing.

The whole idea of spellbinding, of being an entertainer, being the center of the stage, making up words - that let me know that writing is nice.

Although no one loves a typo, it's close to impossible to eradicate every single little mistake in a manuscript.

After my husband spell-checks one of my manuscripts, my editor says, 'It's been Normanized.'